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End Ablowitz: Time for a check-up?

C ars get check-ups. People get check-ups. Major corporations get check-ups, sometimes imposed by outside regulatory agencies or auditors.

When was the last time your nonprofit got a check up?

The best kind is self-determined and for preventative care. In the for-profit world, a common methodology is called SWOT. Some nonprofits use the SWOT approach as well, often modified for a better fit.

What is SWOT? The acronym stands for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats, and the use of the "four quadrant" analytic approach has stood the test of time.

How does SWOT work? A facilitator works with a group to evaluate the enterprise based on each of the categories, generally with a little guidance about customizing how to frame the questions associated with each quadrant. Then the group discusses and prioritizes the ideas which leads to goal setting and identified tactics.

Here's a quick, abbreviated mock case study of how one nonprofit might use SWOT with its leadership team. The objective: to identify how the team could increase the amount of money it raises by 50 percent within two years without increasing staff. (This technique could also be used with a volunteer board or a combination of the two groups.)

Step 1: Determine definitions

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The left two quadrants, strengths and weaknesses, refer to the internal environment. Strengths (top left) are core competencies in fundraising including people, knowledge and resources. Weaknesses (bottom left) are defined as those things that prevent success and need to be fixed.

The right two quadrants, opportunities and threats, refer to the external environment. Opportunities (top right) are situations or strategies that other like organizations might have access to but that this organization might do better or cheaper or faster or how it might provide a better experience for its constituents. Threats (bottom right) are those things that prevent success or make doing business very difficult. These are to be mitigated or avoided.

Step 2: Determine process

A facilitator is selected. For the sake of efficiency, each member of the group is asked to provide five-to-seven bullets for each quadrant, in advance and confidentially, to the facilitator who then consolidates them all into themes. Similar ideas are combined into one entry.

The on-site process (a 90 minute session) begins with the distribution of the homework. One fourth of the group is assigned each quadrant with the task of discussing and prioritizing five key ideas from the composite, themed list. After the first work session, each group reports out resulting in 20 key ideas, five in each quadrant.

The second work session involves each of the four groups looking at the entire SWOT matrix to: 1.) identify one tactic to convert a weakness to a strength, 2.) identify one tactic to convert a threat to an opportunity, and 3.) determine one stand-out tactic based on the highest probability to positively impact the objective -- raise 50 percent more money per year within two years.

Step 3: Strategic planning

The final report out of each group provides the entire group with ideas for continuing discussion and a framework for both strategic and tactical planning.

Key ideas and key tactics

To make this more tangible, below are sample key idea for each quadrant and a few tactics that could emerge from such an exercise:

Strength: Passionate leadership willing to spend the time necessary to cultivate donors

Weakness: Inability to fully articulate why a donor should give

Opportunity: Event-based or annual giving based sophisticated donor base with both affinity and capacity

Threat: Competing messages with other like organizations in the community

Tactic to turn a weakness into a strength: Plan a visioning and marketing workshop with leadership and volunteers to learn how to make the case to donors; invite a handful of top donors

Tactic to turn threat into opportunity: Investigate social media opportunities to extend the organization's message by engaging key donors in taking your message "viral" actively or through testimonials

Best tactic with highest likelihood of success to impact fundraising results: Deploy well-trained staff and volunteers with a clear message about mission and impact to personally communicate with those among the sophisticated donor base who have made repeat gifts; discuss multi-year, leveraged and blended annual and planned gifts using a comprehensive approach to passion-based rather than loyalty-based giving

Is it time to plan your organization's check-up?

Enid Ablowitz, CFRE, CPGS, has been a non-profit leader and donor advocate for more than 20 years. She serves as the associate director for the University of Colorado's Coleman Institute for Cognitive Disabilities and as vice president for strategic philanthropy for the University of Colorado Foundation.

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